The Mount Pleasant boys’ varsity cross-country team won their second consecutive district championship last Thursday scoring 24 points and dominating the competition. Pine Tree finished in second with 51 points and Hallsville wrapped up third with 60 points. The girls’ varsity team finished in fifth place and the JV girls and JV boys finished in third place and second place, respectively.

The Tigers took four of out of the top five places with Daniel Robles taking the gold medal posting a time of 17:21.4 on the 3.1-mile course. “It was a tough race, so it felt really good to win”, said an elated Robles. “After the first mile, I really tried to make a push and pull away. That’s what won the race for me.” Gilberth Landaverde finished in third place at 17:39.3 and Geovanni Calderon finished fourth at 17:53.1. Jonathan Sandate rounded out the top five in fifth place with a time of 17:57.2. Christopher Escobar finished just outside the top ten in 11th place (18:22.4), Jacob Botello finished 15th (18:41.3), and Esteban Trejo finished 40th (21:06).

The Lady Tigers mustered up a team total of 117 points with Isabel Gonzales posting their best finish in 15th place at 23:49. Abigail Retana finished in 21st at 24:45.4 and Briana Gonzales was close behind in 22nd at 24:53.5. Other finishers were Jasmine Landaverde (28th, 25:22.2), Karen Hernandez (30th, 25:52.1, Araceli Landaverde (32nd, 26:19.3), and Noemi Rios (37th, 27:09.2).

The JV girls had a nice showing with 74 team points, good for a third place finish. Arlette De Jesus finished in 5th place with a time of 16:18 followed by Haylee Martinez in 14th place at 17:42.8. Other finishers were Giselle Delgado (18th, 18:14.7), Cynthia Ramirez (19th, 18:20.8), Yesenia Benitez (25th, 18:51.5), Audrey Mendoza (28th, 19:26), and Kylie Humber (29th, 19:30.9).

The JV boys took a second-place finish with 37 team points. Aiden Botello and Audre Alaniz finished one-two with Botello posting a 19:06.9 and Alaniz putting a 19:30.1 on the board. Sahir Ramirez finished in 8th (20:11) and David Buendia crossed the finish line in 9th at 20:11.6. Other finishers were Juan Retana (17th, 21:08.3), Eduardo Solis (23rd, 21:51.9), Oscar Otero (26th, 22:03.7), Jose Trejo (34th, 22:44.4), Skylar Guereca (39th, 23:01.4), Saul Alvarado (49th, 24:19), Jesus Santiago (51st, 24:29.3), Joaquin Arguello (55th, 25:03.1), Jovanny Luna (56th, 26:18), Andrew Gonzalez (57th, 26:19.4), Gabriel Garza (61st, 29:53.9), and Axel Contraeis (62nd, 30:09.1).

The Tigers advance to the regional meet held at Lynn Creek Park at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie. The race will be next Tuesday, October 26 with the start scheduled for 12:30 PM.

 

By Drew Barkley
Photos by Judy Retana